Research

Sustain

Advocate

YCS is a watchdog for development and researches smart solutions for our territory.

Space Heating

Space heating is the Yukon’s second most energy-intensive sector. We must reduce our demand for heat energy by improving insulation and building technology. Our goal should be Net Zero Energy buildings. We can displace fossil fuels in the space heating sector by heating with electricity – baseboards or Electric Thermal Storage. ETS not only reduces emissions from space heating, but also reduces peak demand on our electricity grid, lessening the need to burn LNG or diesel. Biomass (wood) will continue to be an important local fuel source for heat energy in the Yukon. We need to ensure that air quality and forest ecosystem health are maintained through maximum efficiency systems and sustainable harvest/wood sourcing.

Documents

In May 2014, YCS hosted a workshop about ETS: a space heating energy solution to displace fossil fuels, reduce peaking on the electricity grid, and maximize integration of intermittent renewable energy such as wind.

YCS sees great potential for biomass heating units to work with electric heating units where one acts as a backup for the other. This is the ultimate achievement in replacing imported fossil fuels with local renewable resources, and should be actively explored and implemented.